


Tabloids

by ashleybenlove



Series: Ashley's OT6 [35]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Celebrities, Misogyny, Multi, OT6, Paparazzi, Polyamory, Polyship Week, Slurs, some minor commentary about the way media behaves in regards to celebrities, the sims 4 inspired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 09:28:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20171983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashleybenlove/pseuds/ashleybenlove
Summary: Being a celebrity means you have to deal with the tabloids thinking incorrect things about your love life.





	Tabloids

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for [Polyship Prompts](https://polyshipprompts.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr's [Polyship Week.](https://polyshipprompts.tumblr.com/post/186457981563/it-is-time-my-friends-followers-and-various/)
> 
> I used the following [prompt](https://polyshipprompts.tumblr.com/post/179966101071/imagine-person-a-of-your-polyship-is-a-celebrity): "imagine person a of your polyship is a celebrity, and the paparazzi’s caught pics of them with their different partners  
a lot of tabloids write articles about how a is cheating with multiple individuals until a comes forward on their own to clarify that they’re polyamorous, and all their partners know about (and are dating) each other, too"
> 
> This story is a modern AU and it is loosely based off of my experiences of playing The Sims 4 with the Dragon Riders. In my game, the gang has varying levels of celebrity status (Astrid is a global superstar), and the paparazzi are a regular presence in my game.

Astrid growled. Just going to the supermarket to buy groceries meant she was confronted with the tabloid fodder that was currently proclaiming how she was cheating on one of her partners with four other people. Right there, as she was trying to check out. What trash! Not wanting to take it out on the retail clerk who had nothing to do with the tabloid’s contents, Astrid took a deep breath before she completed her transaction.

It bothered her immensely to see those telephoto shots of her on a date with one of her partners, or kissing them, and then seeing a headline that said, “Trouble in Paradise?” or “Astrid Cheats Repeatedly!!!” or “Astrid Has Multiple Affairs!” or some other version of a clickbait title except with magazines.

Maybe she should have Fishlegs shop for groceries. He was fantastic at this sort of thing.

She could have stayed at home, cuddling with some of them. It was much preferable than being confronted by incredibly judgmental and highly inaccurate nonsense.

At least all her partners knew it was garbage. 

They knew the truth, and ultimately, that was most important.

But… ugh, she didn’t want to be seen as a cheater, because it was categorically wrong.

Plus, as a celebrity, she had to maintain a certain reputation, and unfortunately, she was beholden to public opinion in the way that only famous people are. And given that she used multiple social media accounts, she had to deal with that as well.

She was currently ignoring her social media accounts.

“How was grocery shopping?” Fishlegs asked, later, as everyone worked to get their groceries put away.

“Fine. It would have been great except for tabloids!” Astrid exclaimed. “You were right, you should have gone instead.”

“I don’t take pleasure in being right about that,” Fishlegs said.

She probably would have kissed him or he probably would have kissed her if they didn’t have bags full of groceries in their arms.

“You didn’t run into any paparazzi?” Hiccup asked, putting away various canned food items.

“I’d be happy to punch some for you,” Snotlout said, sticking various frozen meat items in the freezer.

“Same!” Ruffnut exclaimed. “I’m always willing to fight paparazzi.”

“Yes, I certainly saw some inside and outside the store, but I don’t think it’d be good publicity if my partners fought the paparazzi,” Astrid said. She released a sigh.

“We could always flip the bird on our dates,” Ruffnut said.

“Flipping the bird!” Tuffnut exclaimed.

“Or yell at Internet commenters,” Snotlout said.

“Oh, let me guess, the Internet’s talking about my love life too?” Astrid said. She growled. She did not want to deal with that. Far too overwhelming. The Internet could be overwhelming for anyone, but for a famous person? Even more so.

Once the groceries were put away, Astrid sat on their lovely large couch, and was surrounded by her partners.

Astrid sighed happily, snuggling close to them. She felt calm and safe and her worries drifted away.

This was short-lived.

Whoops.

Checking her email was not fun. Ugh.

She didn’t want to deal with this.

She was tired of the assumption of cheating.

And the way people treated women who they assumed were cheating really made her furious.

She yelled at her computer.

She wanted to take her computer mouse and throw it at the wall, letting it shatter—

“Astrid, Internet blackout, remember!” Fishlegs shouted from another room.

“They’re being misogynistic!” she exclaimed. “And they’re wrong!”

A few moments later, Fishlegs entered the room she was in, and gently moved his hand to indicate to come with him.

“Let’s go meditate, hmm?” Fishlegs asked in a calming, soothing voice.

“I don’t want to meditate; I want to yell at people on the Internet!” Astrid exclaimed.

“That’s not gonna help, you know that?” Fishlegs said softly. “Come on, we’ll all meditate together. It’ll be nice and soothing.”

And it was.

And it provided help to her situation because she realized she had a simple solution to it.

Considering that she lived in a world where celebrities, such as herself, had social media accounts where they could sound off on their topic of choice, usually to promote their work and to interact with fans.

She could easily just… come out with the actual truth, instead of letting the tabloids say whatever they want. She was allowed to do that. She would talk to her partners about it first, obviously. Just to make sure no one was outed without their consent.

Thus, while they were relaxing together, she said, “So, I’ve been thinking about this whole… the tabloids and such think I’m a cheating whore situation.”

There was definite negative reaction to the slur.

“Yes, I know they’re misogynist jerks,” Astrid said. “Moving on. I think the best course of action would be if I released a statement, written or video, that is me saying: actually, I am a polyamorous person, and those five people? They’re all my partners. It’s all above-board, they all know about each other, and are dating each other as well. The twins are not dating each other, obvi, blah blah blah.”

She saw Hiccup in particular nod in response, clearly thinking it made sense. Fishlegs looked to be thinking.

“I won’t do it unless you all agree,” Astrid said.

“No pressure,” Ruffnut said, in a teasing, joking tone. She paused and then added, “But all joking aside, I agree with you doing that.”

“Same, actually,” Tuffnut said.

“Yeah,” Snotlout said. “Do it.”

“It’s bothering you, I think it might make you feel better, so I think you should do it,” Fishlegs said. He looked over to Hiccup.

They all did.

“I have no problems with it. You should do it. And I definitely agree with Fishlegs. It might make you feel better,” Hiccup said.

“And I think we’re all in agreement that we want you to feel better,” Fishlegs said. He smiled at her.

They all smiled at her, in that way that made her feel so loved five times over. 

As a result, Astrid took some time to write out a statement. The statement was meant to be a statement that could be used with or without a video complement. Whilst she definitely had some strong opinions about the media and the press (especially paparazzi), she avoided spending much time on addressing them, since their behavior was generally unlikely to change. She already had a good idea of the media’s response.

“Astrid Hofferson Breaks Silence!”

They did that a lot. Especially in the wake of celebrity deaths and responses of celebrities to that death.

Once she had prepared a statement that she felt was satisfactory she had her partners read it so they could give her any feedback they might have had.

And once she was fully satisfied with that statement, she set it aside and put it where she could reference it while she made a video.

“A lot has been written recently about my romantic life. Which, despite the fact that I am a very famous person, I still have a right to privacy. But I still would like to clarify some things, as what has been written is wrong. So, those five people I’ve been seen kissing in paparazzi photos? Those are all my romantic partners. My name is Astrid Hofferson and I am polyamorous. These five people all know about each other, and with the exception of the set of twins I am dating, also date each other. So that’s about the sum of that.”

Included in her statement was a brief description of polyamory from the Internet, complete with a source so that people who didn’t really understand it could do research on their own. In addition to that, she had hired a professional photographer to take some great photographs of her and her partners, together, smiling and happy. The main purpose of the photo session was to share pictures of her partners and herself on her social media platforms but the gang was incredibly happy and excited with the work the photographer did, that they made sure to get framed versions of the photos to hang in their home and digital versions to keep in their phones.


End file.
